Registration for 2007 MCATs Opens Soon

Registration for the 2007 administrations of the MCAT will begin in a few weeks.

Registration for the January 27 and 29 MCAT will open on November 15 and close in mid-January.

Registration for the April and May test dates will open on December 13 and continue until about two weeks before the test date. (Late registration is available until about a week before the test date.)

For more information about 2007 test dates and registration procedures, go to the AAMC's MCAT website (aamc.org/students/mcat/start.htm).

U of Hawaii Med School Guest Stars in ABC's 'Lost'

The University of Hawaii's John A. Burns School of Medicine provided the set for a flashback scene in an upcoming episode of the ABC series, 'Lost.'

Producer Jean Higgins said that the Burns School's state-of-the-art lab facilities were just what was needed for the scene. "We really needed a very advanced-looking lab," she told a reporter for the Star-Bulletin of Honolulu.

The School facilities used in the shooting included a second-floor laboratory, the gross anatomy lab, and interior and exterior passageways. (Any 'bodies' that appear in the 'Lost' episode will actually be manequins. Cadavers were removed from the gross anatomy lab, and the area was sterilized, before shooting began.)

The scenes shot at the Burns School will be used for a flashback sequence involving the 'Lost' character Juliet, played by Elizabeth Mitchell. It was not clear when the episode will be aired.

Source: "'Lost' Goes to Medical School," by Katherine Nichols, the Star-Bulletin (Honolulu, Hawaii), October 24, 2006.

Med School Applications & Enrollment Both Rising, AAMC Says

The Association of American Medical Colleges reports that medical school application volume and medical school enrollment both increased between 2005 and 2006.

The number of people applying to enter M.D. programs at U.S. schools this fall grew by approximately 4.5 per cent over last year, the AAMC says. Over 39,000 individual applicants sought medical school admission during the 2005-2006 application season.

Medical schools also increased their intake of first-year students, although, on the national scale, enrollment only grew at about half the pace that application volume did.

Total U.S. medical school student enrollment grew by about 2.2 per cent over the past year.

Approximately one-fifth of the 128 AAMC member schools increased their intake by 5 per cent or more. Several top-ranked schools, including Brown and Boston University, increased their enrollment by 15 per cent or more.

Source: "U.S. Medical School Enrollment Continues to Climb" - press release, AAMC (Washington, DC), October 18, 2006

Out-of-State Applicants Drive Application Increase at West Virginia's Med Schools

Out-of-state students appear to account for most of the increase in applications to West Virginia's three medical schools, the Charleston Daily Mail reports.

Application volume is up dramatically at all three schools.

The West Virginia University School of Medicine received 2,037 applications last year, 55 per cent more than the 1,307 applications it received in 2004-2005. Application volume appears to be strong again this year, with 1,749 applications having already been received a month before WVU's November 15 deadline. WVU enrolls 110 students each fall.

Marshall University received 1,573 applications last year, more than twice the 785 applications it received the year before. A school staff member said she thought Marshall's increased outreach to prospective students helped explain the increase. Marshall accepts about 65 new students each year.

The West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine is seeing a smaller but still significant increase in applications, with a 2005-2006 applicant pool that is about 11 per cent larger than the 2004-2005 pool. Last fall, approximately 2,500 people applied for the 200 spaces the School has available.

Officials from WVU and WVSOM both said they would like to see more in-state applicants, but that for now the majority of their applicants come from out of state.

Source: "Out-of-Staters Filling Med Schools," by Jessica K. Karmasek, the Charleston Daily Mail, October 16, 2006

Arizona Gains 2 New Medical Schools

Two new medical schools -- one allopathic and one osteopathic -- were officially inaugurated in Arizona this week.

The University of Arizona held opening ceremonies for the College of Medicine in Phoenix on October 10. The school, which marks an innovative collaboration between UA, Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University, and a biomedical research firm, the Translational Genomics Institute (TGen), hopes to enroll its first group of two dozen medical students next summer. Eventually school officials hope to graduate 150 M.D.s each year, which would make the UA College of Medicine - Phoenix the largest medical school in the state.

Several weeks earlier, Missouri-based A.T. Still University received accreditation for an osteopathic medical campus it had established in Mesa. The Mesa campus will welcome its first class of 100 D.O. students next July.

State officials hope that both schools will graduate physicians who elect to stay and practice in Arizona, which has a chronic shortage of trained medical personnel.

Sources:

"UA Medical School Opens Its Phoenix Campus Today," by Howard Fischer - the Arizona Daily Star, October 10, 2006

"Medical School Prepping in Mesa," by J.J. Hensley - the Arizona Republic, October 13, 2006

MSU Expansion Plans on Track

Officials at Michigan State University's College of Human Medicine say that the school's plans to establish an additional medical school in Grand Rapids, effectively expanding the College's enrollment, are on track and that students could be using the new facility by 2008.

Associate Dean of Academic Affairs Aron Sousa told MSU's State News that 50 of next year's admits could be assigned to the proposed West Michigan Medical School facility for their 3rd and 4th years of classes.

MSU officials are already hiring additional staff to support a larger graduating class, negotiating teaching arrangements with area hospitals, and examining possible sites for the building that will house the West Michigan Medical School in Grand Rapids.

Officials expect the West Michigan Medical School to be fully functional in 2010.

For more information, see "Medical Expansion on Schedule for 2008," by Justin Kroll, the MSU State News, October 9, 2006.